Friday, Jun 5th, 2026 ~ Jess Rucks & Andrew Kingsley
FRAWNCHE BRED
Well, now, this one was right up my allez~! I loves to poke fun at the French additions to English crosswords more than any other language crossover. Today we have a collaboration between two constructors who have contributed to the LA Times in the past - Jess's last puzzle was a Saturday in September 2025, and the one from Andrew was in 2023 with co-author Marin Wells. A clever interpretation theme of French words in English context, but I thought one did land a bit flat. Yet another oversized 15x16 grid, 22 3LWs, just a couple of names, no Twurds, but two Naticks - ah, Friday. The themers and the reveal, once again in the center;
18. "You can't be serious!": EAUBROTHER - "O" brother~!, how 'eau' sounds in Frawnche, the word for water, as in, e.g., eau de parfum or, cologne ( see yesterday - and I think the LAT editor needed to pay attention to an answer that was a theme answer in the next puzzle ) - and an argument that "odor" is not a synonym for "fragrance"
26. Chant from a giant: FILLE-FI-FO-FUM - the "correct" pronunciation of Fille, "Fee" = girl
Ma chérie, mon amour~!
55. First words of the Constitution: OUITHEPEOPLE - "Wee" - back in college, when any of my friends "ass.u.me'd" I was joining them ( meaning 'we' ) in some escapade, the go-to catch-phrase was "when did you start speaking Frawnche~?"
65. "RuPaul's Drag Race" catchphrase: SACHETAWAY - "say-shay", which is 'bag' in Frawnche; FWiW, I listened to the pronunciation, per Google's translator, and it does not sound like the "leitmotif" RuPaul speaks, which is based on another Frawnche word, chasse . . . here's a YouTube collection video, with a poorly spelled title 😒
38. "Please excuse the bad language," and what can be said about 18-, 26-, 55-, and 65-Across: PARDONMYFRENCH
pardon MY Frawnche~!
Mais Attendez, Il y a Plus~!
ACROSS:
1. Antlered animal: STAG - I do the Downs first, which messed up this corner
5. Chews like a beaver: GNAWS - I found this story to be fascinating, and promising, too
Geronimo, literally
10. Verbal digs: BARBS
15. Super Monkey Ball company: SEGA - filled via perps - the Wiki
16. Dulce de __: LECHE
Sounds good; I have added my chocolate recipe * at the bottom
17. Native Alaskan: ALEUT - learned by doing crosswords
20. Undersea data carrier: CABLE
21. Flight segment: RISER - AND - 30. Flight segment: STEP - Clecho; flight as in stairs, not SSTs
22. Chance: RISK
24. Bulldogs sch.: UGA - The "G" was Natick #1, University of Georgia
Lucky Dawg . . .
25. Up to, informally: 'TIL
32. Be sick: AIL
33. Wok dish: STIR FRY
34. Untainted: PURE
35. Barrel wood: OAK
37. Cal. neighbor: ARIzona, so ARIZ is not the answer to 62D. - and a Thursday dupe
44. Pilates surface: MAT
45. 56-Down pioneer: AOL - early provider of "electronic", not "snail" mail
46. Glitz and __: GLAM - I grew up in the 1980s, so I was into all the "GLAM" bands of the era; Mötley Crüe, Poison, Cinderella, 27D., and these guys🠟 - can you name the band~?
Here's a hint - their "anti-Satanic" hit from the 80s
48. Lends a hand: ASSISTS - not ass.u.me-s🙄
52. Indent key: TAB
54. __ ayam: Indonesian chicken noodle soup: SOTO - Natick #2, the "T" was a WAG . . . [sigh] Friday
58. Novel: NEW
59. Patient care pros: RNs - Registered Nurses - another Thurs dupe
60. Quick study?: CRAM
61. Glowing coal: EMBER
63. Pageant topper: TIARA
69. Religion with a call to prayer five times a day: ISLAM
70. Let one's actions speak for themselves: MIMED - har-har
Here's unreleased behind-the-scenes footage of the "mime caterers" from Spinal Tap
71. Imperial gem of ancient China: JADE
72. Flings: CASTS
73. Kills it on the runway: SLAYS - ask RuPaul
74. Mars counterpart: ARES - Gods of War, Roman & Greek respectively
DOWN:
1. GPS heading: SSE - Dah~! Not RTE, but 1/3 correct
2. Go wild on the dance floor: TEAR IT UP - I pondered CUT A RUG, too short
3. Christina of "Burlesque": AGUILERA - not that I've seen this, but I put Christina and dance together, and . . . name #1
Cher, too~!
4. Talks and talks: GABS - Dah~! Not YAKS, 1/2 correct
5. "I Will Survive" singer Gaynor: GLORIA - I knew this one, name #2
. . . Frank~!
6. Catch: NET - Dah~! Not NAB, 1/3 correct
7. German cry: ACH - Hey, I got the Deutsch word 100% correct, go figure . . .
8. "__ were we?": WHERE - alliteration, like the world wide web
9. Ornamental lines: SERIFS - Ha. I tried "SHRUBS" - hey, it is 1/2 correct . . .
10. Go the wrong way?: BACKFIRE - I have been rewatching YouTube and Amazon clips of Top Gear and The Grand Tour
11. Gulf st.: ALA - Alabama abbr; I tried FLA, was 2/3 correct
12. Brush off: REBUFF
13. Tabbouleh grain: BULGUR - Ugh. The other half of Natick #1 - the "G" was a total WAG
14. Like some "Heated Rivalry" scenes: STEAMY - I didn't know of this Canadian TV series about bromance and hockey, more here - I had ST _ _ _ Y on my second pass
19. "What game are you watching!?" target: REF - Ah. Shouting at the TV during a bad hockey, NFL, soccer, etc., official's call
23. Raga instrument: SITAR
25. Baking soda amt.: tsp - Funny story - I was shopping for spice at my Big Y supermarket when an older guy in the aisle asked me what I was looking for; I said "bagel everything" seasoning; he said "Huh, I'm looking for "bagel salt" . . . so I offered him several choices I had found, and he walked off in disgust; then he came back and showed me what he really needed - baking soda . . . Ah. Guess I need to clean my ears 😜
27. Pride member: LION
Glam metal artist White Lion, When the Children Cry
great guitar solo @ 2:36
28. Quechua pack animal: LLAMA
29. Rubber gaskets: O-RINGS - the part that failed tragically on the Space Shuttle Challenger
31. Allow: PERMIT
36. Capital in Honshu's Kansai region: KYOTO - My first thought, hesitated; Geo name #3
39. Producers of road movies?: DASHCAMS - I have one, need to install it before I drive down to Long Island next week to house-, dog-, cat- and fish-sit for my brother and his wife on their one-year anniversary vacation. I'm hangin' with Cooper~!
40. Abalone eater: OTTER - I tried SEALS
41. To-do: FLAP - A bit if Brit slang, refers to a state of panic, agitated fuss, or noisy tumult
42. Backdrop of an animated series in a Lucasfilm franchise: CLONE WAR - the IMDb
43. Harsh negativity, in slang: HATERADE - A mockery of "Gatorade", and Natick #2, part 2
. . . only when I'm driving
47. Take the field?: MOW - I had to replace the flat 10x8 Four-ply tire on my tractor, which I could not get fixed at six locations - had to go back to the place that sold me the machine, and it cost $210 - I can get two tires with change replaced on my car for that money . . .
I cringe to think what a BACK tire goes for . . .
48. Like some heart valves: AORTIC - nailed it
49. Gymnast Lee who won the Best Comeback Athlete ESPY Award in 2025: SUNISA - Ah. I knew it was Suni, I did NOT know it was SuniSA - her Wiki; - name #4
50. Natural rug fibers: SISALS - nailed it, number two - Monday dupe
51. Little jerks: SPASMS - nailed this, number three - it's not the pain-in-the-a$$ type of jerk . . . 🙄
53. Runs, in a way: BLEEDS - Missed this one on the first pass
56. Username, often: EMAIL
57. CPR expert: EMT
62. Cal. neighbor, informally: BAJA - I was thinking ARIZ~? OREG~?
64. "I smell a __!": "RAT~!"
66. Nashville honor, for short: CMA - Counrty Music Award
67. "Psst!": "HEY~!"
68. "You rang?": "YES~?"
Splynter
* Made my own chocolate this weekend - 1/2cup cocoa powder, 1/2cup coconut oil, which is all saturated fat - and all the calories, 2tsps organic honey, 1/2tsp vanilla extract and salt - so, so good, but I'm going to try and swap out half the oil with unsweetened applesauce to reduce the calories
I also use a similar silicone tray in my air-fryer to make breakfast "stacks"
DNF, not even close. The trouble started when I called up the puzzle and found that I can no longer see both the across and down clues for a square. I can toggle between them by clicking on the square, but until today I could see both at the same time. I'm blaming the LAT web site. Then my first entry at 1A was "deer," which got me started on the road to ruin. Oh well, I get home tomorrow night and can start using Pentel on paper for Sunday's puzzle.
For me, the highlight of the puzzle was when it reminded me of the late Laura Branigan's signature song GLORIA.
Tomorrow's my pack-and-leave day, having gotten my stuff neatly ensconced in my storage locker and the rental truck back to Penske. Today I'm going to check out a few neighborhoods so that I'll have some background when house hunting begins, hopefully later this year.
Thanks to Splynter for the fun review, however the puzzle wasn't my cuppa.
Good morning! Started right off with: DEER I R (Have I ever mentioned....?) Elsewhere, my FEE FIE FOE FUM, NAB (Hi, Splynter), and PAD THAI weren't working. Plus, I had no idea what Roux Paul might say. But I got 'er done, even though it took almost 18 minutes to put the cap on this bottle. Thanx, Jess, Andrew, and Splynter.
Well, the truth is that I couldn’t make head nor tail of the sense of this puzzle, so I ended up turning on the red letters. Although I had something of a sea of them, I got through it at that point. But I have to give myself an FIW, based on those red letters. Oh, well, you can’t win ‘em all, I guess!
Seeing as I am not a fan of foreign words in the crossword puzzles, I did not care for this puzzle at all.
I didn't know the Actress of the Day (Aguilera) as clued, nor did I know the Indonesian chicken noodle soup (soto), which takes an early lead for worst clue of the month. I also didn't know the German cry (ach), and although I knew the "Suni" part, I did not know the full name (Sunisa). And, I had "nab" before slowly giving way to "net."
FIR. All I have to say is yuk! I expect Friday to be a struggle but this one was over the top. Last to fall was the SE. I know nothing about Ru Paul, and haterade was a WAG. The only clever thing about this was the theme, and I had an edge since I spoke French before English. Overall a very unenjoyable puzzle.
Splynter, Regarding your lawn mower tire. About 3 months ago, when I went to mow for the first time this year, the right rear tire on my riding mower was flat too. When I aired it up, the sidewall head several leaks where it had been squashed. The mower repair shop guy recommended I try"Slime" tire repair. The store went to had several different "Slime" bottles to choose from, but I obviously picked the correct one. I haven't lost any air from that tire in over 3 months. I'm sorry this message is too late to help you now.
Hola! French on Friday! Ooh, la, la! I got it at OUI THE PEOPLE then went up and filled EAU. Very clever, but, I, too, prefer an all English puzzle. The only other language I'm proficient in is Spanish and we see that at times. Interestingly, SOTO is a common Spanish surname; I had no idea it was an Indonesian dish. MOW was nicely clued. As for RuPaul's catchphrase, I have no idea. ALEXA helped with that. SUNISA filled with all perps. I still have a RAT problem. I used the packets advertised to DEFINITELY get rid of RATS, but it bit into them! I now have all pantry products in glass or metal containers. Any suggestions would be welcome. Have a fantastic Friday, everyone!
I actually bought a can of Slime, and I was mere seconds away from trying it - then I decided to get it fixed properly, locally; that shop took the complete wheel assembly, assured me they could fix it, then when I went to pick it up, they claimed they could NOT fix it with the bad sidewall - but now it was disassembled - tire off rim, no tube . . . . so I kinda had no choice at that point - and I didn't trust this guy with it any further.
I still have the Slime, and if a back tire DOES go, I am definitely going to take your advice and try it~!
In spite of French being my language, this CW was not a good fit. DNF. I did see the theme at OUI THE PEOPLE, but it didn’t help with the other theme fills. I thought about the giant’s words, but FILLE doesn’t work, so I left it blank.
I got the SACHET, but not the rest not knowing anything about RuPaul and the SE remaining blank.
The NW remained blank as well. There were too many unknowns throughout this puzzle for me to finish it.
I just had tabbouleh two days ago, and STIR FRY three days ago, but no Indonesian chicken noodle soup.
Musings -I was so pleased when I got rid of all the trash in the NE after EAU BROTHER appeared! DIR, DEER, IKEA, YADA, YAKS and STAIR had to be evicted. -CLONE _AR/SACHET A_AY took two guesses, so I’ll take one bad cell in this clever Friday puzzle -OUI THE PEOPLE was the key for me after some blank cells in the north -We had PURE yesterday where I learned Ivory Soap had air whipped into it would float and appeat to be 99 44/100% PURE -Word has automatic adjustable TABS and I only use TAB to move from box to box in app forms -Same with me, Splynter, on AGUILERA and there is only one place in our town of 30,000 that will fix tires like that -WHERE WERE WE? I left my phone in the cart, went to make a putt and returned to the conversation -The Challenger launched during record low temps at KSC which made the O-RINGS shrink and fail -KYOTO was at the top of the list for the A-Bomb but Henry Stimson, Sec. Of War, argued against it -Granddaughter has a French minor and occasionally does the LA Puzzle. I'm texting her right after I hit Publish here.
17 comments:
I’ll reveal how (and what)
I did later. Talk to you then!
DNF, not even close. The trouble started when I called up the puzzle and found that I can no longer see both the across and down clues for a square. I can toggle between them by clicking on the square, but until today I could see both at the same time. I'm blaming the LAT web site. Then my first entry at 1A was "deer," which got me started on the road to ruin. Oh well, I get home tomorrow night and can start using Pentel on paper for Sunday's puzzle.
For me, the highlight of the puzzle was when it reminded me of the late Laura Branigan's signature song GLORIA.
Tomorrow's my pack-and-leave day, having gotten my stuff neatly ensconced in my storage locker and the rental truck back to Penske. Today I'm going to check out a few neighborhoods so that I'll have some background when house hunting begins, hopefully later this year.
Thanks to Splynter for the fun review, however the puzzle wasn't my cuppa.
Good morning!
Started right off with:
DEER
I
R
(Have I ever mentioned....?)
Elsewhere, my FEE FIE FOE FUM, NAB (Hi, Splynter), and PAD THAI weren't working. Plus, I had no idea what Roux Paul might say. But I got 'er done, even though it took almost 18 minutes to put the cap on this bottle. Thanx, Jess, Andrew, and Splynter.
P to the u
Should never have been printed
Not even worthy of the bird cage
Well, the truth is that I couldn’t make head
nor tail of the sense of this puzzle, so I ended up turning on the red letters. Although I had something of a sea of them, I got through it at that point.
But I have to give myself an FIW, based on those red letters. Oh, well, you can’t win ‘em all, I guess!
Yale, Butler, Drake and Gonzaga didn't fit - there are about twenty-five colleges with a bulldog mascot.
I only know BULGUR wheat from a line in Jimmy Buffet's "Cheeseburger in Paradise.
Took 10:32 today to finish with Jenny Sayqua.
Seeing as I am not a fan of foreign words in the crossword puzzles, I did not care for this puzzle at all.
I didn't know the Actress of the Day (Aguilera) as clued, nor did I know the Indonesian chicken noodle soup (soto), which takes an early lead for worst clue of the month. I also didn't know the German cry (ach), and although I knew the "Suni" part, I did not know the full name (Sunisa). And, I had "nab" before slowly giving way to "net."
FIR. All I have to say is yuk! I expect Friday to be a struggle but this one was over the top. Last to fall was the SE. I know nothing about Ru Paul, and haterade was a WAG.
The only clever thing about this was the theme, and I had an edge since I spoke French before English.
Overall a very unenjoyable puzzle.
Splynter, Regarding your lawn mower tire. About 3 months ago, when I went to mow for the first time this year, the right rear tire on my riding mower was flat too. When I aired it up, the sidewall head several leaks where it had been squashed. The mower repair shop guy recommended I try"Slime" tire repair.
The store went to had several different "Slime" bottles to choose from, but I obviously picked the correct one. I haven't lost any air from that tire in over 3 months. I'm sorry this message is too late to help you now.
Had, not head several leaks.
Hola! French on Friday! Ooh, la, la! I got it at OUI THE PEOPLE then went up and filled EAU. Very clever, but, I, too, prefer an all English puzzle. The only other language I'm proficient in is Spanish and we see that at times.
Interestingly, SOTO is a common Spanish surname; I had no idea it was an Indonesian dish.
MOW was nicely clued.
As for RuPaul's catchphrase, I have no idea. ALEXA helped with that.
SUNISA filled with all perps.
I still have a RAT problem. I used the packets advertised to DEFINITELY get rid of RATS, but it bit into them! I now have all pantry products in glass or metal containers. Any suggestions would be welcome.
Have a fantastic Friday, everyone!
Tony -
I actually bought a can of Slime, and I was mere seconds away from trying it - then I decided to get it fixed properly, locally; that shop took the complete wheel assembly, assured me they could fix it, then when I went to pick it up, they claimed they could NOT fix it with the bad sidewall - but now it was disassembled - tire off rim, no tube . . . . so I kinda had no choice at that point - and I didn't trust this guy with it any further.
I still have the Slime, and if a back tire DOES go, I am definitely going to take your advice and try it~!
Thanks, Splynter
In spite of French being my language, this CW was not a good fit. DNF. I did see the theme at OUI THE PEOPLE, but it didn’t help with the other theme fills. I thought about the giant’s words, but FILLE doesn’t work, so I left it blank.
I got the SACHET, but not the rest not knowing anything about RuPaul and the SE remaining blank.
The NW remained blank as well. There were too many unknowns throughout this puzzle for me to finish it.
I just had tabbouleh two days ago, and STIR FRY three days ago, but no Indonesian chicken noodle soup.
Musings
-I was so pleased when I got rid of all the trash in the NE after EAU BROTHER appeared! DIR, DEER, IKEA, YADA, YAKS and STAIR had to be evicted.
-CLONE _AR/SACHET A_AY took two guesses, so I’ll take one bad cell in this clever Friday puzzle
-OUI THE PEOPLE was the key for me after some blank cells in the north
-We had PURE yesterday where I learned Ivory Soap had air whipped into it would float and appeat to be 99 44/100% PURE
-Word has automatic adjustable TABS and I only use TAB to move from box to box in app forms
-Same with me, Splynter, on AGUILERA and there is only one place in our town of 30,000 that will fix tires like that
-WHERE WERE WE? I left my phone in the cart, went to make a putt and returned to the conversation
-The Challenger launched during record low temps at KSC which made the O-RINGS shrink and fail
-KYOTO was at the top of the list for the A-Bomb but Henry Stimson, Sec. Of War, argued against it
-Granddaughter has a French minor and occasionally does the LA Puzzle. I'm texting her right after I hit Publish here.
L'artifice était ridicule et a fait tomber ce casse-tête, par ailleurs médiocre, à un niveau encore plus bas.
Amen!
I guess this is what they call HATERADE. I didn't think it was that hard.
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